


down the stone steps and into the night

by silvergalaxy



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Libraries, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-24
Updated: 2014-02-24
Packaged: 2018-01-13 16:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1233358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvergalaxy/pseuds/silvergalaxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He notices that Harry has a bag identical to his own on the table, a free one that the RA's give to freshmen during the first week of the term. "Cool bag," Niall says genuinely, and Harry looks lost for a moment before spotting Niall's, and a handsome grin makes it's way on to his face. </p><p>"Sweet," he laughs, crossing his legs under the table. "Bag buddies."</p><p>or Niall meets Harry at the library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	down the stone steps and into the night

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from hey rosetta!'s song "young glass"
> 
> someone was kind enough to offer to translate this to russian [[link here](http://ficbook.net/readfic/2028905)!!]

Niall doesn't like going to the library Sunday evenings, simply because of the fact that it was much too crowded. Any other day of the week he's almost always able to secure a spot at his favourite table, a small round one placed conveniently in a quiet corner next to a window. If it was his choice, he'd rather stay in his dorm. He learned, though, that his room provided too many distractions, and he was best off going somewhere where guitar playing and inviting friends to hang out wasn't allowed. 

It's nearing six in the evening now, and Niall stumbles his way across campus, chilly wind making it's way into his bones through the thin fabric of his sweat pants. He knows there's next to no chance of getting his trusty table before some other group of students snatch it up, but he still has the faint hope that maybe there could be a seat left for him. He also knows it's unreasonable to get so attached to a goddamn table in a university library, but he shoves that thought out of his mind as he continues his trek up into the library, turning left before taking a tiny flight of stairs to the row of bookcases that hid the nook from the rest of the building. Breathing heavily, he rounds the small corner to see only one boy at the table, and lets out a huge sigh of relief. The boy looks up and catches Niall's gaze, blinking slowly at him as though he had just been asleep.

"Hello," he says, and judging from the scratch of his tone, Niall thinks his hypothesis was correct.

"Hey," Niall answers jovially, absentmindedly adjusting the strap of his bag over his shoulder. He'd only gotten off his crutches a few weeks before, and the dull ache that had arrived in his upper back is slow leaving. "D'you care if I sit here?"

"Nah, of course not," the boy smiles, and then adds on as an afterthought, "My name's Harry."

"Nice, I'm Niall," Niall replies as he plops himself down into the hard chair. _Harry_ had taken the comfier one, but Niall resists from speaking up. What kind of asshole would he be if he asked the poor bloke to get out of his chair? A big one, he thinks.

He notices that Harry has a bag identical to his own on the table, a free one that the RA's give to freshmen during the first week of the term. "Cool bag," Niall says genuinely, and Harry looks lost for a moment before spotting Niall's, and a handsome grin makes it's way on to his face. 

"Sweet," he laughs, crossing his legs under the table. "Bag buddies."

"You, me, and a thousands of other people here," Niall adds with a tiny laugh, his eyes crinkling. Harry points at him and nods, as if to say _you got me there_ and Niall begins to haul the heavy textbooks from his bag and is laying them on the table when Harry speaks up again.

"Exam tomorrow?"

"You betcha," Niall tells him, pointing to his pile of study material. "What about you?"

Harry lets out a strange laugh and wipes sleep out of his eyes, and Niall notices that his eyelashes are awfully long. "No, my roommate kicked me out for the night," he waggles his eyebrows.

Niall chuckles a little, flipping open the page of his engineering binder. "So you came to the library. Very nice."

"I thought so as well," Harry jokes, and Niall flicks his gaze up to him, offering a smile, and deciding that perhaps having this boy at his table won't be so bad.

Harry lays his head back down on his forearms then, and Niall begins to study in near silence, with the exception of the occasional snore from Harry and the sound of people walking past their table to pick books from the crowded shelves. Niall was right, there are ridiculous amount of people gathered here tonight, and usually he'd feel alone, but with Harry's sleeping body close by he feels strangely at ease.

Niall flies through the first page of his notes, quietly murmuring to himself as he answers practice problems. He chews on the end of his pencil, an anxious habit he picked up in primary school, as he works through a particularly difficult formula. 

More and more students are entering the library as time goes by, but nobody seems to want to sit at a table where someone is asleep, and Niall laughs a bit to himself at his luck. Here he is with a currently quiet, kind boy who also happens to be devastatingly attractive. A good evening in Niall's books.

Harry awakes roughly an hour later, his green eyes droopy.

"Good nap?" Niall questions kindly, fidgeting with his pencil. The sky is growing darker with each passing minute, and Niall has turned on the overhead lamp, casting a glow over his papers.

"Lovely," Harry says. He stretches his arms up over his head, rustling his curls, and Niall's eyes are drawn to the muscles covered by Harry's shirt. "I'm hungry now, though. Wanna come get a muffin?"

Niall turns his gaze to his pile of work, weighing out his options before looking back at Harry and nodding enthusiastically. "I'm starving, mate. Let's go." He could always study later.

They grab their things, and Niall leaves his bag on the table while he spins around, reaching up to flip off the light. Once he's facing Harry again, he's surprised by his height. He looked much smaller all curled up in the wooden chair, but now his legs seemed to go on for ages, his torso lanky and smile just as bright as ever.

They easily fall into step with one another, padding quietly out of the building carrying their things and sporting pleased grins, conversation flowing quickly between them.

It's darker outdoors now, and Harry stumbles over unseen bumps in their path more than once on their way to the cafe, causing Niall to burst out in raucous laughter, but not before making sure Harry was alright.

"You walk like a newborn deer," Niall manages to get out through his laughs, and Harry tries to look offended, but he fails miserably and smiles along with Niall instead.

When they finally arrive, it's much less crowded than the library, something that Niall is silently grateful for. Niall frequents the cafe, usually visiting each morning to grab a quick breakfast, but he doesn't come often in the night time, and he doesn't recognize any of the employees. They join the line, and Harry gestures to the brightly coloured murals above the displays that Niall often admires.

"My mate painted those," he says. "He's quite good."

Niall lets out a low whistle. "I'd say. Those are sick. Do you come here a lot then? If you know the owners well enough to paint on their walls?"

Harry smiles and shakes his head. "Nah, not too often. Zayn is just always trying to get out there to do work. So he offered here and they said to go for it. Why, d'you spend a lot of time here?"

Niall nods, supposing he may as well be honest. "I do. I like muffins quite a bit."

"And here I am offering to take you out for some," Harry says with a foolish grin, but his tone is sincere.

"A man after my own heart," Niall replies, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks, lighting up his face.

"I suppose I am, huh?" Harry says, and then the girl at the cash calls them over, and Harry struggles to pick which kind of muffin he wants.

"Get a fruit explosion," Niall suggests quickly, seeing that the server seems to be annoyed with Harry's slow pace. "They're great."

"Alright, I'll get one of those," Harry tells the girl, and Niall takes his turn placing his order, what he always gets - lemon poppy seed- the familiar words rolling off his lips.

It takes a few minutes to bag the muffins, for no reason other than lazy workers, so Harry takes the time to ask Niall about where he's from.

"Ireland," Niall says with a sense of pride, and Harry grins.

"I knew that much. Whereabouts in Ireland?"

So Niall tells him all about tiny Mullingar and his mam and dad back home, the quiet streets and the friendly people. They've got their food now, and Niall is still rambling as they take their seats in a booth near the exit of the place.

"It sounds really nice," Harry says genuinely after Niall has seemed to slow down. "Do you get home to visit often?"

"No," Niall knows he sounds put out about it. "Just on holidays, really."

"Same, bro." Harry replies, sounding strangely American. "I think I may be genuinely broke."

"I _know_ I'm genuinely broke," Niall answers, and they both continue to laugh over their worrisome financial situations until they've finished the muffins.

It's nice, here with Harry. Niall risks sly glances up at him as they speak, and more than once catches Harry staring back at him. Harry is really interesting, from what Niall's seen thus far. He apparently knows how to bake croissants like a pro, goes to the gym on an almost daily basis, and he has a ridiculous amount of puns memorized. "You were right, fruit explosion was good." Harry tells him as they throw the wrappers in the trash can by the door before exiting. It's chillier now that it was on their way here, and Niall is happy he wore his thick hoodie tonight, otherwise he'd be shivering by now. His bag feels awfully heavy on his sore back, but he contributes it to the fact that he's been on his feet all day and is currently exhausted.

Niall shrugs, shoulders slumping painfully. "I know my muffins, what can I say."

"You can say you'd like to meet up again some time?" Harry asks suddenly, his voice hopeful and smile sweet.

And for a moment, Niall wonders if he's heard him right, or maybe this is just his imagination acting up again. He hesitates for a moment, questioning reality before he answers.

"I can definitely say that," He laughs lightly, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the block of concrete where they've stopped walking. There's light making it's way out from the windows of occupied dorm rooms, people riding clumsily by on bicycles, and voices echoing across the lawn, and Niall is standing right in the middle of it all with the most gorgeous boy he's had the pleasure to talk to, and a possible date. 

"Oh good, I thought you were gonna say no," Harry exclaims honestly, and Niall tilts his head and grins. 

"I wouldn't even dream of it. Wanna give me your number so we can talk about a time?" He pulls his phone from his pocket, offering it for Harry to take. Harry nods happily in agreement, swiftly typing in his contact information, listing his name as "Library Harry". He hands the phone back to Niall, and Niall slips it into his sweater pocket.

They stand there for a moment, smiling dazedly at one another in silence until a student barrels through the shouting, knocking them both out of their stupor. 

Harry shuffles backwards a bit, looking like he might fall over again. "I'll text you later?" He questions, and Niall offers a thumbs up.

"That sounds good," He replies, which is a bit of a lie, because it sounds fucking glorious to Niall right now. "Talk later then," he says with a content grin. Harry rubs his hand over Niall's arm casually before turning and walking towards a dorm close by. He turns and waves to Niall one last time before he finally goes inside, and Niall traipses the rest of the way back to his room with a silly smile and rosy cheeks.

Liam is home when he gets back, and Niall hopes he can pass the red on his cheeks as a natural reaction to the cold temperature rather than the joyful blush it really is. He flings his bag onto his bed, and a huge weight is literally taken off his shoulders. He swears it wasn't this heavy when he left earlier this afternoon, and he didn't pick anything up throughout the day, so the extra weight is a mystery to him. That is until he unzips it and finds a giant bag of powdered clay and an Law textbook he definitely did _not_ own.

Liam throws him an amused face from his desk across the room, and Niall presses a palm to his forehead. "Did you steal someone's bag?" he asks, and Niall groans, because what if Harry thinks he's a kleptomaniac?

"I obviously didn't steal it, Li. It's a mix up, I'll get it sorted." Niall fishes for his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he finds Harry. He lowers himself down onto his bed, and fires off a quick text.

_hey bro ! it's niall, remember me? hah, i'm pretty sure i've got your bag by mistake. should i change your contact name to harry pottery? x_

_[Sent at 9:04pm]_

He sends the message before he has a chance to second guess his wording, and he hauls his shoes off while he's waiting for Harry to reply. His phone buzzes a moment later, signalling a response.

_I figured as much Xx. And haha, that's clever. I guess being bag buddies isn't as good as I'd originally thought. Wanna get breakfast in the morning and swap 'em? :)_

_[Received at 9:07pm]_

Niall's smile grows even bigger at Harry's reply ( _Two kisses!_ his mind screams at him), and he's pretty sure Liam knows that something is up at this point, but he doesn't mind. He answers Harry affirming their breakfast date the following morning and throws his phone onto a pile of clothes at the foot of his bed before heading to the bathroom to take a quick shower before turning in for a lazy night of watching action movies with Liam. He did enough studying earlier anyways, and now Harry has his textbook so the obvious thing to do was let himself relax.

\--

There's a warm feeling in Niall's tummy when he wakes up the following morning, and it has more to do with Harry than it does with the pile of blankets wrapped around him. 

He takes another shower, and tugs his favourite pair of jeans on, pulling a comfortable sweatshirt over his damp hair before grabbing his jacket, Harry's bag, and his wallet. Liam is still snoring when he leaves, and Niall feels envious that he has no examinations today. Niall's test isn't until noon, so he had plenty time to spend with Harry and get a bit of extra studying in.

They meet at the same booth they were in the previous night as planned, and Harry already had their muffins on the table, along with two steaming cups of hot chocolate.

"Goodmorning," Harry exclaims as Niall sits himself down, and he holds out Harry's stuff with a raised eyebrow.

"Morning, Harry," he replies with a chuckle, taking his own bag from Harry's hands and laying it on the seat next to him. "You didn't have to get my stuff, man."

He goes to pull money out of his wallet but Harry waves him off with an easy grin. "It's honestly not a problem. Least I can do after taking away all of your study material, huh?"

Niall huffs, amused. "True enough," he says. "Next time I'll pay." 

Harry's face lights up with delight, and Niall can't help but do so as well, feeling so inexplicably joyful here with Harry, munching on his muffin as tiny flakes of snow floated lazily down from the clouds outside.

"I was hoping for a next time," Harry tells him, a dimple popping up on his left cheek.

"Me too," Niall says honestly. "I'm almost glad we mixed up the bags, I was kind of looking forward to seeing you again. Kind of being an understatement," he adds on.

Niall doesn't think he's seen Harry smile this big yet, and he can't help but feel slightly proud of himself for being the reason behind it.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Harry laughs, taking slurp of his drink, immediately pulling back and sticking out his tongue, making a pained expression. 

"Too warm?" Niall asks him with a small chuckle, brushing his feet against Harry's under the table.

Harry nods. "Might have to get you to kiss it better," he says oh so seriously, and Niall complies with glee, leaning over the table to press a sweet kiss against Harry's pink lips.


End file.
